Gear breakdown: Behind the scenes with Chase Jarvis

Seattle-based commercial photographer and videographer Chase Jarvis has posted a show-and-tell video about the core gear he carries with him on shoots. Jarvis maintains a popular blog and is the co-founder of creativeLive, with whom DPReview partnered for our December 'DPReview Live' event.

In the video, you can see bags of photo and video gear sitting on industrial shelving in the background. Rather than going through every piece of equipment he owns, Jarvis presents his essential camera gear, the stuff he takes with him on every shoot.

For still photography, he shoots with Nikon D4 bodies (the video was shot before the D4s was available, but he says he’ll be upgrading) and counts several Nikkor lenses among his essentials: 14-24mm F2.8, 24-70mm F2.8 and the 70-200mm F2.8. Add a couple of SB-910 speedlights, chargers, at least eight batteries for the D4 and an assortment of accessories and that’s pretty much his standard kit.

Jarvis shoots his 'behind the scenes' videos with the Canon EOS 5D Mark III and his "run and gun" gear includes several L-series Canon lenses such as the 24-105mm F4, 16-35mm F2.8 and the 70-200mm F4.

Comments

Thanks for some very good info. As usual, many of the comments here are of the snarky variety that seem to always accompany any personal viewpoints expressed online.

While contrary opinions are always welcomed, ... sort of, ... the problem is that some good, though shy, shooters would never express their own opinions about the gear they use in fear of being slammed mercilessly by "others" in the comments section. That's a real shame, since it limits what we can all learn from others.

Personally, I've never heard of Chase Jarvis until today, but if he can offer good advice, I don't really care if I have heard of him, unlike some others who have commented. Part of the snarky reply problem may be due to the fact that photography is a rather private and personal undertaking, and not a "team sport." Besides that, many of us are essentially competing against each other for the same clients, which doesn't lend itself to much camaraderie among shooters.

I heard of him once before and looking at his work, it seems to me he is a very good professional.Although most of what I have seen on this video is very similar to what I pack ( I was expecting it to be), yet is always interesting spend a few minutes watching a different take on the subject, by someone who seems to be quite wise in his choices.

Always loved Dakine packs. They've made great stuff for the snowboard world for years. Check out Burton's photo packs, as well. Real world stuff for real world outdoor shooting by people that actually do.

actually this is a good buying guide for new amateur users (with some modifications). just plan a system like Jarvis and that's the cheapest (best cost performance) plan than keeping buying low quality gears = waste of money.

some alternative gears may be - instead of two D4's, one D800/D610 or D700, plus one D7100, - instead of two 5D3's, one 5D3/6D, plus one 70D, - Canon 24-70/2.8L2 and 70-200/2.8LIS2 instead of cheaper lenses, - 50/1.4 (Sigma 35/1.4) instead of 35/1.4L, - get the most robust tripod/head that you can carry first,

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